


The Boy in the TARDIS

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dimension hopping!Rose, Doctor on Gallifrey, F/M, Gallifrey, dimension hopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 03:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: While dimension hopping, Rose runs into an almost familiar man.





	The Boy in the TARDIS

**Author's Note:**

> I know, it's been forever! Very busy work and study time. But I have now taken the first part of a CFA (as well as have met Billie, John, and David, oh my!) and have more time!

****The first thing she notices are the trees. The bright silver leaves are sun on clear water, shining gently in her eyes. They enchant her and it takes a moment for her to catch her bearings. **  
**

Once the spell breaks, she sees the tall fields of red - a sea of grass caressing her tarnished skin (from months, years, of hopping between dimensions). It is all oddly calming - a  welcome change.

“Give it back!”

Rose jumps to attention, hand on holster (now ever the little soldier) as she turns toward the noise. Two young boys are running through the field, the one in front laughing hysterically with a small sleek item while the other hurries behind with a furrowed brow. She lets her guard down partially and moves in front to stop the children. “Whoa, hey!” She catches the front runner and snatches the object out of his hand with a stern look. “What’s goin’ on here?”

The other boy comes to a halt and looks up at Rose with wide hazel eyes. “I...he took it.” He swallows in uncertainty and looks down bashfully.

Rose couldn’t help the small smile that came to her lips, charmed. “Well, we can’t have that.”

“Tattletail,” the other boy spits out before running off in the other direction.

“No doubt he is concocting a plan of retaliation,” hazel eyes mutters, still looking in every direction but Rose.

She is surprised by the child’s verbosity, which brought her back to herself. “Ah...this might sound a bit odd, but what planet is this?”

The boy tilts his head in confusion. “I don’t understand. How could you not know?”

Rose fought the urge to backtrack. “Right, sorry. Just...a bit of a crash landing?”

“Off-worlders are rarely permitted. But, I must admit I never understood that rule.” The bashfulness has returned as he looks down at his feet. “You’re on Gallifrey.”

_Gallifrey._

The name registers in Rose’s memories instantly. She notices her breath quickening and her heart racing and then everything is blurred.

“Rose! Blimey, you gave us a fright.”

She looks around in confusion. In place of the grassy landscape and young boy were steel walls and Mickey. “Wait…” she says it so quietly that Mickey moves nearer in concern.”No, wait! I have to go back. I have to-” she doesn’t know what she has to do, after all the Doctor (her Doctor) won’t be there. She figures it must be something deeper, a desire to catch a glimpse of him - not him in the literal sense, but what has shaped the man she’d grown to love years ago.

“Rose, your vitals were up. I think it’s best if you take the night off,” Pete speaks up as he makes himself known. “Your mother made shepherd’s pie.”

She knows it’s futile to attempt to argue and agrees reluctantly. She would normally be worried she would never land on the planet again, but there’s something in her convincing her it’s the furthest from the truth.

oOo

“You...you must stay silent!”

Rose blinks in surprise at suddenly being pulled near a wooden closet. She barely registers the close-cropped brown hair of the young boy from her earlier trip. She does not even recognize him until those soul-bearing hazel eyes look back at her, pleading. “My parents must not know you’re here. I am still uncertain of how you have appeared, but that will be for later conversation.”

A conversation Rose knows she would be just as lost in. The boy’s speaking throws her off - was it normal for one so young to speak so eloquently? Regardless, he has grown a few years since her last trip. “I forgot to ask last time - what’s your name?”

He cocks his head to the side, contemplating. “It seems rather silly for me to reveal such things to a complete stranger, yet I feel the urge to. I am called Theta.”

It reminds her of math class, but she smiles and holds out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Theta.”

It glances at the hand and folds his arms defiantly. “And you are?”

She’s learned long ago to not say.

oOo

“-and we just sit there, lost in conversation. He’s a kid, but he talks like he’s a bloody century old.” Rose is regaling her tale to her team members over pizza and lager, a much different scene than usual.

Mickey snorts and downs the last of his drink. “‘S just a kid, Rose. You _hate_ kids.” He gets up to get another round.

oOo

“Theta,” Rose calls his name the moment she sees him - he’s at least 16 now and in an unfamiliar setting, but she could never mistake him.

Theta turns slowly from the large glass window to her. He had been staring out at the pristine landscape of the Citadel and refused to acknowledge the fluttering in his hearts at the sound of his name. “I would call back, but I still do not know your name.” He stares into her eyes with slight indignation.

Rose allows a small smirk to ghost its way across her lips. “For the better. Why don’t you give me a nickname?”

His brow quirks in curiosity before he shrugs. “Only fair, I suppose, considering. How about…” he considers her, “we’ll call you ‘wolf’.”

Rose suddenly feels ice crawl up her spine. “W-why’s that?”

He shrugs again and turns back to the city. “You show up, unannounced and sporadically, and there is an aura of mystery about you. A grace in the night. Much like a wolf. They keep everything so mundane here - not an inch out of place.”

She decides to ignore his naming and step beside him. He’s right - everything outside is cookie-cutter perfect. It makes her eyes hurt. “You must become bored easily.”

He suddenly turns to her with a grin. “You have no idea. Practically failing out of the Academy. Mother and father are incensed.”

“I bet. If it makes you feel any better, I quit school. Well,” she cocks her head to the side, “the first time ‘round. Needed to go back for reasons.”

“Reasons having to do with inter-universe travel?”

She blinks in surprise, taken aback. “How did you-”

“We’re learning about it in class. Made me think of you. Might be the one subject that actually allows me to become a Time Lord, how my grades are looking.”

_Time Lord._

It suddenly hits her - she’s on Gallifrey. Obviously before her Doctor is _her Doctor_ , but she’s on _Gallifrey._

Cautious hands are suddenly steadying her. “Are you all right? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

She takes the boy in - extended contact is obviously uncommon, if the light blush heating his cheeks are anything to go by. “Sorry, sorry. We’re on Gallifrey?” She regrets the moment the words fall from her lips.

His eyes narrow. “Yes, I thought you knew. How else could you end up here?”

She recovers quickly, thanks to years of practice. “How many more years have you got left?”

His eyes twinkle, but he doesn’t question her change of subject. “About another half a century.”

 _Blimey._ She refrains from voicing her surprise - is it even a surprise? - and nods. “So...what do you do for fun?”

He snorts. “Fun? Here? Not possible. Come with me.” He holds out his hand expectantly.

She takes it all too easy.

oOo

The next time she sees him, he’s sitting on his elegantly covered four poster bed, looking grim. He glances up at her with a wan smile. “My Kruonis, back again.”

She sits next to him and takes his hand. “Your what?”

“Kruonis, Lithuanian goddess of time. You are of Earth, are you not? Your physiology fits.”

Instead of answering, she continues their banter. “Thought you just said I’m a goddess.”

He laughs, properly, and then they both fall silent. He’s staring at her, as if she’s his escape. “This life isn’t fit for me.”

“No.” She really knows nothing about the Time Lords - the Doctor only gave her inklings of his life before the war.

“I want to help people. They just sit back and watch it all happen.” He shakes his head and grips her hand tighter. “How can they just let it all _happen_?”

She doesn’t know what to say to comfort him, so she pulls him into a hug. She holds him through his initial shock and waits until his arms encircle her waist, his head burrowing in the crook of her neck. “You don’t have to be like them.”

He’s still for a moment, and then pulls back to study her. “No, no I don’t,” he speaks softly and then his lips are on hers.

She thinks she should be against this. She’s essentially betraying the man she’s worked so hard to get back to. She should end this now.

She kisses back.

oOo

The next time she meets him, it is much later. For him, that is; the cannon sends her back not even a week later.

He’s much older now, and his eyes are lost, yet excited. He recognizes her instantly. “I can’t stay here any longer. I feel _suffocated_. I _can’t_.” It’s as if he is explaining himself to her, the sturdy rules on the Time Lords etched into his brain.

She knows what she must do. Eventually, she will find her god of time. Now is not it. “Go, Doctor. We’ll find each other eventually.”

He grins.


End file.
